J'ai besoin d'acheter du pain pour le repas.

I need to buy some bread for the meal.

Breakdown of J'ai besoin d'acheter du pain pour le repas.

• je: I
• le pain: the bread
• avoir: to have
• du: some
• pour: for
• acheter: to buy
• le repas: the meal
• de: of
• le besoin: the need

Questions & Answers about J'ai besoin d'acheter du pain pour le repas.

Why do we say J'ai besoin d'acheter instead of something like Je dois acheter?

In French, avoir besoin de (literally “to have need of”) conveys the idea of needing something more politely or as a necessity, rather than a strict obligation. While Je dois acheter is correct and means “I must buy,” it can sound stronger or more categorical. J’ai besoin d’acheter focuses on the need.

How come it’s du pain and not le pain or un pain?

Using du is a way of expressing an unspecified quantity: it’s partitive. Du pain means “some bread,” without specifying how much. Le pain (“the bread”) can be used in specific situations, like talking about a particular loaf or bread in general. Un pain is rarely used because pain is typically not counted in single units the way, for example, “a sandwich” would be.

Why is “de” shortened to d’ before acheter?

Because acheter starts with a vowel, French uses an elision: de + acheter → d’acheter. This is done for ease of pronunciation, avoiding the back-to-back vowels that occur if you said de acheter.

What does pour le repas mean exactly?

It literally means “for the meal,” implying that the bread is intended for a particular mealtime. This phrase tells us the purpose of buying bread: to have it specifically for the meal.